Lakers' Pau Gasol Playing Through Knee Injury

It's nothing serious. For now. But Pau Gasol has been playing through knee tendinitis. The Los Angeles Lakers' forward has complained about getting touches and has not looked as good as he has in years past. Part of this, of course, is age, but the other part could be the knee problem.

Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times says Gasol has been dealing with the tendinitis in his knee for about a month now. This has affected his play as has the changing offensive strategy with Mike D'Antoni assuming the coaching duties.

"It's something that has been lingering since this preseason. I've been dealing with it the best I can," Gasol said of the injury.

It's easy to just brush aside Gasol's knee problems as an excuse for poor play - heck, it'd be natural considering the disfunction the Lakers have shown this season - but the tendinitis has limited him. Rest is about the only thing that can be done for his knee, and he is getting it on occasion. However, when Gasol is on the court, he will need to perform better to drive back the criticism.

So far this season, Gasol is averaging just 13.6 points per game. That's a drop-off of four points per game compared with his 2011-12 average. In his career, Gasol has averaged 18.6 points per game. Follow @hoopsinjurynews